'The Bachelor' alum Carly Waddell engaged to "dream man" Todd Allen Tressler

The Bachelor alum Carly Waddell has announced she is engaged to her "dream man," Todd Allen Tressler, following her divorce from Bachelor in Paradise co-star Evan Bass.


Carly took to Instagram and posted a beautiful video of her lawyer boyfriend proposing marriage to her on a beach.

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The video -- which included clips of Carly horseback riding, enjoying a boat ride with her two kids, Bella and Charlie, and showing off her diamond ring -- set the post to her own song titled "So I Do."

"A little thing happened in Costa Rica," Carly wrote alongside a ring emoji on October 17.


"Many of yall have been wondering why Todd wears a ring on his hand and it is actually because I asked him last Halloween to marry me first! (I'll give you way more of this story SOON) BUT SPOILER ALERT, he said yes, even though to be honest he was so shocked it was hard for him to speak!"

The Bachelor alum continued, "Then, also SPOILER ALERT he asked me THIS October and I also said YES!!!!"

Carly went on to boast of her two-stone ring, "We had been looking at the traditional ring shops for a while and I knew what direction I wanted to go with it but we chose @jamesallenrings to custom design exactly what I wanted and I didn't see the final product until he was down on his knee."

Carly's engagement ring features an emerald-cut diamond touching a pear-shaped diamond of a similar size.

"It's more beautiful then I could have ever imagined it to be," the singer gushed. "Here's to a new chapter with my dream man, and then dream ring he put on my left hand."


The ring is 5.5 carats and is set in yellow gold, according to James Allen's sales manager.

Carly opened up about her relationship with Todd on social media earlier this year after keeping it private for months.

Carly and Todd had first connected via Instagram -- when Carly had DMed him -- in July 2023, and they went Instagram official in March 2024.

"He told me he was old school and would love to call me sometime," Carly shared with her followers in March.

"I asked him out in the most awkward voice text ever that I thought would never send and then it [accidentally] did. He laughed and accepted."


Carly went on to reveal how their first date was magical.

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Carly is clearly in love and ready to wed again nearly four years after her December 2020 split from Evan, who she had met on Bachelor in Paradise's third season in 2016.

Evan, for his part, has moved on with Kristen Rodgers, whom he had debuted via Instagram in June 2023.

When looking back on her televised romance with Evan, Carly told Us Weekly in May 2023, "I would do everything exactly the same. I really would."


Despite the fact her first marriage failed, Carly shared, "I mean, it was hard and it sucked so bad, but it was all the right choices in the long run."

Carly and Evan had gotten married in June 2017 and welcomed two children together: Isabella "Bella" Evelyn, 6, and Charles "Charlie" Wolf, 4. Evan also has three older kids.

In December 2020, Carly revealed in a YouTube video that Evan had initiated their separation after three years of marriage but co-parenting their children was "very easy" and smooth.

Carly also shared that the former couple's divorce mediator had explained how the kids wouldn't "remember" what it was like for their parents to be married.

"I was like, 'Oh, that's kind of sad.' But [now] I'm like, 'No, that's actually really great,' because, you know, if mommy gets a new boyfriend, daddy gets a new girlfriend [or] if we get married, there's never going to be that, like, 'I don't like her because that's not mom,'" Carly reasoned.


The former cruise ship singer -- who initially appeared on The Bachelor's nineteenth season in 2015 followed by two stints on Bachelor in Paradise -- added, "That won't be a problem for us."

Evan spoke about his split from Carly and what went wrong during a June 2022 episode of the "Talking It Out with Bachelor Nation" podcast.

"Paradise gives you a kind of foundation that's very -- there's nothing going on, right? You just have to work on your relationship. And you talk about real-life stuff and for me, it was very genuine, and I think when you get out, that transition, I think that's probably where we missed it," Evan explained at the time.

Evan hinted that he and Carly had major differences at the core of their relationship.

Evan said he and Carly struggled with "communicating about values and just communication in general [and] figuring out how to work through life."

"I have obviously other children that aren't with Carly, and so, there was just a lot to work through," Evan noted.


"And so, yeah, I just don't think we set the foundation in the way that we should have."

Evan elaborated of the former couple's struggle, "I judge the crap out of myself, like, 'You did that or you did this wrong.'"

After Evan and Carly met on Bachelor in Paradise's third season in 2016, Evan proposed during the finale. They were then shown tying the knot during a Season 4 episode of The Bachelor spinoff.

Carly proceeded to give birth to Bella in February 2018 and then Charlie in November 2019.

Carly admitted in late 2020 divorce "just sucks" but she expected time would heal her wounds, and Evan acknowledged how the pain from his breakup was "real."

"I have done a ton of therapy, like I started doing -- I've been doing therapy for years, but I made sure that it was every week. I did every kind of therapy method," Evan revealed, adding how he had even tried "hypnotherapy."


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Evan said he began dieting and "jumped into the gym and started beasting out, as much as a father of five can" after his divorce from Carly.

Evan admitted going through two divorces was "sobering" as well as "terrible" and "embarrassing," and he still wasn't "out of" the woods in terms of feeling healed and whole again.

"I still feel like it's hard talking about it, I feel emotional just thinking about it. It's a deep sadness still," Evan said at the time.

"And I don't know if you ever just get completely perfect. There's the scars and the wounds. They heal, but they're also there to teach you, and teach me, and I'm trying my best."

Evan also wrote in June 2022 on Instagram Stories how divorce felt like "death" and it was a "horrible" time for him.


Evan, however, claimed on social media that a lot of what had been reported "ain't true" and he certainly wasn't seeking revenge on his ex.

"There can be no revenge when u [sic] have kids together," Evan wrote on Instagram Stories in 2022.

"As an aside, there are also no sides in a divorce with kids [because] the kids are the only damn side to take and how dare y'all tryna take sides back in the day."

But Evan apparently didn't consider either of his two marriages to be a mistake considering he learned and grew from them both.

Evan also shared how his kids "handled [the divorce] really well," although they were "bummed out" Evan's relationship with Carly didn't work out for the long run.

Evan noted how he and Carly were finding their "groove" and co-parenting was going "great."


But Evan -- who married his first wife after less than four months of dating and then married Carly in one year of dating -- joked, "I should probably wait a very long time before I get married again... [but] I love love... and I really want to be with someone."

Evan, who had a vasectomy after his fifth child, also said he'd "of course" do Bachelor in Paradise again. However, he has yet to appear on the series for the second time.

When Carly and Evan met in Mexico on Bachelor in Paradise, Evan pursued Carly with determination only to face resistance in the beginning of the season, but Carly slowly fell in love with his quirks and personality.

Prior to meeting Evan, Carly had competed for Chris Soules' heart on The Bachelor 19 and then experienced serious heartbreak on Season 2 of Bachelor in Paradise when Kirk DeWindt unexpectedly dumped her during the final days of filming.

Evan found fame when he had competed on JoJo Fletcher's edition of The Bachelorette.

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About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski